On Wind Turbine Loads During Thunderstorm Downbursts in Contrasting Atmospheric Stability Regimes

Nan-You Lu, Patrick Hawbecker, Sukanta Basu and Lance Manuel
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Nan-You Lu: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Patrick Hawbecker: Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Sukanta Basu: Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
Lance Manuel: Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-30

Abstract: Severe winds produced by thunderstorm downbursts pose a serious risk to the structural integrity of wind turbines. However, guidelines for wind turbine design (such as the International Electrotechnical Commission Standard, IEC 61400-1) do not describe the key physical characteristics of such events realistically. In this study, a large-eddy simulation model is employed to generate several idealized downburst events during contrasting atmospheric stability conditions that range from convective through neutral to stable. Wind and turbulence fields generated from this dataset are then used as inflow for a 5-MW land-based wind turbine model; associated turbine loads are estimated and compared for the different inflow conditions. We first discuss time-varying characteristics of the turbine-scale flow fields during the downbursts; next, we investigate the relationship between the velocity time series and turbine loads as well as the influence and effectiveness of turbine control systems (for blade pitch and nacelle yaw). Finally, a statistical analysis is conducted to assess the distinct influences of the contrasting stability regimes on extreme and fatigue loads on the wind turbine.

Keywords: atmospheric boundary layer; downburst; extremes; turbulence; wind turbine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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